I lost my Mavic Pro Platinum.

Meta4 · Dec 31, 2018

Mavic Pro Platinum said:
So there is no way DJI can track it with GPS or satellites.

There is no way.
GPS and satellites do not track your drone.
Your drone receives location data from GPS satellites so the app knows where your drone is - that's a one-way interaction.
Your Mavic doesn't/cannot broadcast more than a few kilometres to your controller.
There's no way DJI have any idea that you even flew that day unless you upload your flight data to their server.
But if you did that, they still would only know what we've seen already - the data up to the point where you lost contact.

Prismatic · Dec 31, 2018

Meta4 said:
There is no need to calibrate the compass before flight.
Not calibrating before flight won't make any difference to anything.

And did you know you can recharge your iPhone X in the microwave?

Seriously, that is bad advice. If the drone says "Dance!", you dance.

Meta4 · Dec 31, 2018

Prismatic said:
And did you know you can recharge your iPhone X in the microwave?
Seriously, that is bad advice. If the drone says "Dance!", you dance.

Seriously ... what I said is correct.

If you think your app is telling you to recalibrate the compass, look again but closely.
And then move away from the magnetic field the compass is warning you about.
You really, really don't need to recalibrate anything before flying.

DanMan32 · Dec 31, 2018

I bet "GPS weak" was misinterpreted as RC/AC connection weak. Going higher does often help with that.

Even if one stays within legal height limit, certainly don't go higher when you get navigation instrument warnings where you probably will be at the mercy of higher winds. Actually go lower, perhaps emergency land to cut your distance losses. Of course not too low where you might hit something.

Meta4 · Dec 31, 2018

DanMan32 said:
I bet "GPS weak" was misinterpreted as RC/AC connection weak. Going higher does often help with that.

Even if one stays within legal height limit, certainly don't go higher when you get navigation instrument warnings where you probably will be at the mercy of higher winds. Actually go lower, perhaps emergency land to cut your distance losses. Of course not too low where you might hit something.

GPS weak means GPS signal is weak or non-existant.
It is entirely different to a weak control signal.

Rogue 1 · Dec 31, 2018

sar104 said:
Based on the battery depletion rate and wind speed altitude profile, it looks like it will have commenced autoland at around 945 seconds. Extrapolating drift rate assuming an airspeed of around 20 mph in RTH and a descent rate of 3 m/s gives the following:

View attachment 57254

That gives an estimate landing distance of 5250 meters from the home point. Since the aircraft was able to hold course but not distance, we can assume that it was approximately moving directly away from the home point in the final RTH phase, which puts the estimated landing site as shown below.

View attachment 57253

If this helps they poor guy find his drone then I declare you to be a genius. I am impressed.

sar104 · Jan 1, 2019

Rogue 1 said:
If this helps they poor guy find his drone then I declare you to be a genius. I am impressed.

If he doesn't find it then I blame him entirely. But seriously - while the method is sound and has worked many times, there are a number of uncertainties that need to be taken into account. In this case the wind profile with altitude was not entirely consistent. I'd bet that the drone landed within 100 meters of the estimate, but that's still a large area to search, especially given that some of it is wooded.

Bakwena · Jan 1, 2019

Quite interesting stuff,just awaiting feedback to know if the drone has been found. I am also fairly new in the drones,I can fly my Mavic Pro Platinum fairly well now after a couple of crashes. I guess new pilots should be advised to start with entry level drones instead of buying expensives ones straightaway

Bakwena · Jan 1, 2019

On another note,I crashed my mavic pro platinum over a kilometer away in thickets,I went into my "Find my drone" function and it navigated me straight to where my drone was,why arent we talking about that functions? I guess its the best option

Dave Aespl · Jan 1, 2019

Sorry for your loss,
keep looking dont give up.
Strange things magnetism you never know where its going to turn up
my mavic 2 was out of sinc to my compass even after 3 callinrations in different locations. New glasses! yep you say what ? Glasses come with snap on sunnys and 4 super magnets.
Now keep my old glasses in drone case for flying ,

Meta4 · Jan 1, 2019

Bakwena said:
I went into my "Find my drone" function and it navigated me straight to where my drone was,why arent we talking about that functions? I guess its the best option

Because it can only show the last recorded location of the drone when there was a connection.
That location is already known from the recorded flight data but it's only where the drone was when it lost signal.
The drone continued flying after that and is somewhere else.

Rockowe · Jan 1, 2019

SOMETHING STRANGE going on Here...
Theres a CHUNK of missing data here at 773 Seconds (773.000)
.. for 12 seconds (Gone) - from the 12m52sec marker

Like it blacked out or was hit by something...
In this time... (with no record) …..
… the Aircraft SHOOTS up 30m - at 15 km/hr (zpeed)
- it traverses 75m laterally ...
* It swivels 200 degrees ...
also its followed by or endures a catastrophic signal loss at the end of the event - but recovers-

Thereafter after the 12 secs of nothing it surges its power using Up to 14 Amps of current on the Battery - for 2 secs (except its not climbing) - maybe in a stabilizing gesture-

- if it was purely a loss of signal - it would not have been able to climb? - so maybe a Bird - a Bullet >>> ?

Some other notes - weather indicated light rain - 85% humidity 92% probability

Rockowe · Jan 1, 2019

Rockowe said:
SOMETHING STRANGE going on Here...
Theres a CHUNK of missing data here at 773 Seconds (773.000)
.. for 12 seconds (Gone) - from the 12m52sec marker

Like it blacked out or was hit by something...
In this time... (with no record) …..
… the Aircraft SHOOTS up 30m - at 15 km/hr (zpeed)
- it traverses 75m laterally ...
* It swivels 200 degrees ...
also its followed by or endures a catastrophic signal loss at the end of the event - but recovers-

Thereafter after the 12 secs of nothing it surges its power using Up to 14 Amps of current on the Battery - for 2 secs (except its not climbing) - maybe in a stabilizing gesture-

- if it was purely a loss of signal - it would not have been able to climb? - so maybe a Bird - a Bullet >>> ?

Some other notes - weather indicated light rain - 85% humidity 92% probability

...

ALSO I agree that the wind was pretty fierce - (appeared) ...
Up until 813 Seconds the aircraft had not Pitched more than 15degrees - but at THAT POINT it Maintained a Constant 25deg (Max - Parameter set) pitch - AGAINST the wind - while travelling away from home- (with a few degrees of lateral roll)
AFter the RTH Event - it maintained tha Max 25 degrees - while Pointing to home (ie minus 25 deg the other way)

The MAX of 25deg killed this flight - a Mavic Pro 1 or M2 can pitch Safely up to 50 degrees... this may have saved this drone.

BTW the Max Pitch can still be set in Parameters using the older Ass2 tools- Iv set mine to 50deg - and although it looks crazy the drone can Hover in 50km /hr winds - iv done that at the coast - - but is wildly pitched-

Meta4 · Jan 1, 2019

Rockowe said:
SOMETHING STRANGE going on Here...
Theres a CHUNK of missing data here at 773 Seconds (773.000)
.. for 12 seconds (Gone) - from the 12m52sec marker

Like it blacked out or was hit by something...
In this time... (with no record) …..
… the Aircraft SHOOTS up 30m - at 15 km/hr (zpeed)
- it traverses 75m laterally ...
* It swivels 200 degrees ...
also its followed by or endures a catastrophic signal loss at the end of the event - but recovers-

Thereafter after the 12 secs of nothing it surges its power using Up to 14 Amps of current on the Battery - for 2 secs (except its not climbing) - maybe in a stabilizing gesture-

- if it was purely a loss of signal - it would not have been able to climb? - so maybe a Bird - a Bullet >>> ?

Unusual or not, none of that makes any difference for a flight that was doomed from the start.
Out of control with a yaw error, flown too high in high winds too high to RTH.
No attempt to RTH until 20% battery and 4 km out.
Being blown backwards at 4.5-5 metres/sec while in RTH at 448 metres altitude.
This was always going to be a one-way trip